The State Of the Writer, or September?

Posted on by Sarah A. Hoyt

This could be titled “another year up the spout.”

It’s not true, not quite. But I thought it was time for a state of the writer post, because ya’ll start worrying about me, when things fall behind and I don’t meet even self-imposed deadlines.

So, I’m all right. The problem has been I haven’t had a sleep study in seven years. Mostly because it’s a pain and I haven’t got around to scheduling one. There have been more serious health issues in the family and I’ve been hounding people to get checked/get something done about them, so this has slipped.

I don’t need one, probably, but that means the supply places don’t want to fulfill orders for replacement parts. So I’ve been shopping on Amazon and they didn’t have name-brand parts, only knock offs. The knock offs develop micro cracks that mean the straps come off if I move or turn. Normally within a month or so. But see that “been too busy” I didn’t think about it, and didn’t check, and assumed because I didn’t remember maybe more than once a night I wasn’t wakening that often.

Except I was falling asleep during the day or really early in the evening and not being able to put my mind to much — which is why chapters and books are late — so I tracked and yep, every half hour I was adjusting the mask, because the straps came off.

So, Amazon coincidentally now has the name brand, and I got it yesterday. I’d like to say it’s the best sleep I’ve had in weeks but it wasn’t, because Mr. Indy has ensured the hose leaks (well, it moves SO enticingly) and also because apparently I’ve been petting him in the night while half awake. So– I’ve ordered new hoses, and put them on subscription. Since Indy is calming down but we’ll hopefully been getting his little siblings in two months.

And one thing we’ve established is that I don’t function while half asleep. In addition there’s some respiratory thing, but before you get too worried, it appears it’s just because I’ve been smoking Canada. Yes, I know it’s a bad habit and I should quit, but what can I say. It’s in the air, as it were, and it’s so fashionable. I wish Castreau would stop torching his own country, but it’s probably a vain hope.

In fact, the way this year has gone maybe I should give up on sleep altogether. We started in February, with a misdiagnoses of high blood pressure that led to my taking a medicine that kept me awake and coughing.

And since then it’s been one crazy thing after another.

The most important ones, though, has been that I’ve traveled almost every month for a week. I hate traveling. But that’s not the point. The point is that I will spend one week recovering from the trip, one week preparing the next trip, and one week traveling, then start again.

Most of these trips haven’t been to cons, though some have been to meet fans. Most of them, though have been family and personal, and I’m starting to get a bit exhausted. Which is okay. Other than Son of Silvercon in Vegas mid-October, I’m not traveling again till March next year. (Well, in November, on kittens-picking-up mission, hopefully.) I briefly considered going to P-con in Dallas this month, then realized I really need to write, and that’s more important. As much as I’d like to see friends I can’t travel all the time. Also, did I mention I hate traveling? I always did, even as a young woman, though I did a lot of it, but now I’m getting old and curmudgeonly, and I have novels practically trying to come out my ears, so I’d best stay home and fricking write. Oh, yeah, and get the sleep thing regulated.

On the CPAP – while I’m again working at losing weight, my apnea doesn’t seem to be weight related but mouth formation related. I should have caught on earlier, from the fact that my family assumes it’s normal to sleep less and less every year after 20 or so. You just wake up and stare at the ceiling a lot. Yeah. Anyway, it’s likely I’ll have to be tethered to the thing the rest of my life, so I probably should have the needless sleep study, so that I can order things through insurance.

Moving right along, I didn’t announce it here, for various reasons, but mostly the way we left Colorado, there was enough weird stuff surrounding us that I decided it was a bad idea to give much notice of our trip, but the trip with older son was to Colorado for almost a week.

In many ways Colorado is still home. You can’t live somewhere for thirty years and not have it become a part of you. In other ways, it’s a complete unknown, particularly Colorado Springs downtown which has to an extent changed behind recognition and has a weird “New York married California” vibe. I can’t describe it, it’s just a weird touch-feel feeling.

Anyway, it was good to be able to say goodbye to Pete’s (late at night on Friday, and how is it possible the place is both more upscale — the cheap picnic tables in the annex are now permanent wood and stainless steel — and somehow more seedy? (Every surface felt like it had been dipped in sugar. Twice.) It was also full of students, which shocked me, as Pete’s after 10 was always the hang of policemen, whores and writers.

We also went to the DMNS, to the zoo and to Garden of the Gods, as well as seeing friends of 30 years standing whom we might or might not see again, or at least not for a long time.

We didn’t get to take a walk in downtown Colorado Springs due to the press of time.

But it was good. I got to say goodbye properly, and don’t feel like I ran away under cover of darkness.

It also confirmed for me the two reasons I could not have stayed. One would be insufficient to push me out, but two of them, well…. Yeah, the politics. There’s only so much I could have dealt with and the politics have gone too far. And my autoimmune. As soon as we hit altitude, it spun up to crazy levels, and I couldn’t have stayed one more day without needing to go to ER. It’s mostly cleared now.

My head would probably also clear, if I could get stuff ready so I can sleep ;)

Anyway, I’m going to try to stay home and optimize my routine to writing, because the books ain’t gonna write themselves, and it’s either that or pour bleach in my ear to quiet all the people in there.

The state of the writer is sleepy, confused, smoke-infused and cat-plagued. What else is new?

107 thoughts on “The State Of the Writer, or September?”

  1. go to cpap-supply.com they recognize how silly the requirements are and so if you send them a prescription (no matter how old), they will keep it on file and not require a new one ever (15+ years for me at this point)

    Their prices also frequently beat other suppliers ‘with insurance’ prices. They won’t file insurance claims for you, but will give you all you need if you want to.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. Oh, don’t get me started on Apria. Their local office in Portsmouth NH had the rudest, most unhelpful woman running the office that I have ever run into. And Apria took more than 6 months to deliver (I had the sleep study office order through another company, and got my unit within a week.) So the question is, was Apria looking to kill me or turn me into a Biden clone?

        Liked by 1 person

        2. The Apneaboard forum seems to have a fair number of comments about the likely origin and final destination of Apria. I was reading the forum in 2016, so not sure about pre-Obama, but…

          Liked by 1 person

      1. I know what it is and HAVE one of those machines, but every time I see that acronym, it registers as “crap” or “carp.” [not amused]

        Like

    3. Another good vendor (located near Seattle, so good delivery to the Left Coast) is cpapman dot com. They handle the usual suspects, and I get my ResMed supplies from them.

      My first machine (it wasn’t steam powered, but was set via trim pot. Not a computer in the circuit) was paid via insurance, but I got the replacement through cpcpman. They asked for a prescription, but I didn’t have one. (I wasn’t insured then.) In ’05, that wasn’t a barrier. It started to fail in ’16, at which point I needed a prescription. I did not go through insurance, so YMMV.

      At least in 2016, any medical provider could prescribe a machine. (I’m told that it’s legit to have a dentist prescribe a CPAP machine, but I went through my family practitioner. I figured out what I needed (auto set type, so I didn’t have to go through a titration study on my own dime), wrote the prescription for machine and all relevant accessories, and the doc sent it on. It was affordable (waggles hand) by enough that I ended up getting two machines. One goes on road trips, and once a year I’ll switch.

      There are some other issues in my sleep breathing (“Clear airway”) but my cardiologist isn’t worried about it. When I get the round tuit, I’ll talk to a specialist. (A sleep test might be interesting frustrating; when I’m in a strange bed/not sleeping well, the CA stuff disappears.)

      Like

    4. Alternately, I get mine from CPAP.COM without a prescription. (If I needed a new machine it would be different. They’re happy to sell me supplies without one.)

      Like

  3. Yoicks. My husband totally sympathizes with you in the bad sleep/CPAP issue, and due to severe allergies, we don’t even have cats.

    You’ll be in my prayers. Not being able to sleep hits me hard after one night. I can’t imagine it as a lifestyle.

    Like

  4. First of all, please take care of yourself. I’m glad you got to take a proper good-bye to CS. It is hard to say good-bye to a place you’ve lived/loved, even if you can’t live there anymore.

    Liked by 1 person

  5. I’m over due for a new sleep study too. The last one was scheduled for right around when #2 arrived, so got busy.

    On cats chewing the tubes, I’ve found wrapping them loosely in clear packing tape kept the tube safe from chewing.

    I wonder if “Maintain the meat puppet” needs to be added to the list of daily routine activities somewhere?

    Oddly enough I may well end up in Vegas for a work trip when Son of Silvercon is happening. If so, I may have to wander by and show the flag, briefly, before vanishing back into my hole.

    Actually, the wife loves travel, and if I’m going to be on a business trip for three weeks to Vegas, she might want to come out for a weekend with the kids, and they’d probably be out for that weekend. I have no idea how the older one would handle a con. Either it would be way too bright and loud and she’d melt down, or she’d find it the coolest thing ever. (She’s 5 and a touch autistic.)

    Will have to see what happens.

    Liked by 1 person

    2. There is hode-shaped flexible fiber conduit, split lengthwise. Hose within hose might prevent punctures.

      My Miz Kity won’t claw aluminum foil, so one might try that as a wrapper.

      Like

    2. mixed feelings on that one. as long as they allowed electronic copies to be sent (which they may not), I see nothing wrong with copyright registration including a copy of what is being registered

      and no, I don’t believe that it ‘stole tens of millions of dollars a year’ from anyone

      Liked by 1 person

      2. If you look at the case itself, the argument was the copyright office was insisting on two paper copies of every work published, regardless of registration. They would then note it down and then destroy the copies they were sent.

        Do it or get fined. The legal sticking point was that they were doing it under section 407 (which used to grant copyright protection, but now just say you have to send in copies), so the court ruled that since sending the copies got the copyright holders nothing the fines and physical objects required made it theft so it was unconstitutional.

        They explicitly were not addressing the possibility of ebook requirements. They also were explicitly not addressing registration copies for additional protections (which is receiving something of value.)

        How much those copies and fines amounted to, I have no idea.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. yeah, demanding copies and then destroying them is idiotic and should be barre, and the org doing it obviously has more budget and manpower than it needs, so should be drastically cut (especially if fines are imposed for not providing the copy they then destroy).

          On the other hand, I could easily get being requiring that a digital copy be delivered to some central archive (digitizing it if a paper copy is provided) copyright office or national archives and make it available to the public for a nominal fee after the copyright expires (computer systems do cost to run, but a fairly nominal fee could make it self-funding)

          Liked by 1 person

  9. Right on cue to stir up fear among the moronic liberal idiots who listen to Liberal Zombies vomit out opinions on The Spew.

    Who knows maybe we will get lucky? Nah, we just ain’t that lucky.

    Like

        1. Hell, we need a test to confirm its existence because there are no symptoms.

          And some idiots are still constantly taking tests after 4 years. There’s something obsessive-compulsive about that.

          Liked by 1 person

    1. Take all my predictions, for what they are worth. I haven’t won the lottery yet, if I was good at precognition I would have already won the billion dollar lottery.

      Like

    1. Not ‘Wildfires’, ‘Arson Fires’. In my honest opinion started by one of the liberal Eco-Nut groups. Dear Eco-Nuts, you want humanity to end because its evil, then why don’t you Extinct your own cowardly unbelieving in your own belief’s ass first. That’s right Extinction Rebellion, you don’t believe what you preach, if you truly believe what you say you believe. Then you killing yourself first is the only true way to proceed. Otherwise you are just a bunch of unemployed ugly trolls.

      Like

  12. re: new sleep studies

    look at spending just a little more and get an auto-adjusting CPAP/BIPAP machine. (BIPAP is a CPAP that can adjust the pressure differently for exhale vs inhale, makes it easier to use when you have high pressure settings)

    These machines have the ability to adjust themselves through the night as needed, so you are close to having a new sleep study every night.

    http://www.ApneaBoard.com has manuals for pretty much all the machines out there that include how to change the settings. It also has software that can read the cards from many machines and give you FAR better graphs and info about what’s happening than your doctors typically look at.

    I periodically check what the machine has adjusted to over the night and set the starting point a little below that point. In my case, weight is a factor, and as I lose weight I need less pressure, as I gain weight I need more (over the last few years I’ve dropped ~150lb, regained ~70, then dropped ~20 again, so these are fairly significant swings)

    Like

  13. Lisinopril is evil. Prescribers fail to mention incessant coughing. Took quite some time for us to figure it out.
    Sleep studies can happen in your own home now. So says my sleep dr. We’re trying to skip it for now, but it is possible. Sleep deprivation sucks!

    Like

    1. I had an in home sleep study, 4 – 5 years ago. With cats, not sure how accurate it was. Also difficulty sleeping with the “non invasive” gear on (says who, exactly?). In sleep clinic suite test would be worse. What I go off of is my Fitbit (currently Charge 5) sleep numbers and percentages. I do not pay for the subscription. My wake minutes haven’t changed from before test to now. Still 50 minutes to 75 minutes depending on how many trips to the bathroom, whether the dog gets me up to go out (will multi task, turn off alarm if needed, she goes out, I go use restroom, let her back in, maybe turn back on alarm depending on timing, go back to bed), and if Tj or Freeway follow me back to bed for attention. None of that changed. What has changed is the amount of time dreaming (little to non existent before treatment) and how I feel (not everything hurts all the time, anymore). Still can be tired during the day, which I don’t think is good, but so far thyroid has been ruled out, so has diabetes (despite tiredness and frequent bathroom breaks, recent A1C test – 5.6 and BS readings run 135 after meals with a rare spike of 155). I forget what else doctor has tested me on, but results within “normal”. Exercise does make feel better, but does not help the sleep problems.

      my apnea doesn’t seem to be weight related but mouth formation related.
      …………………….

      Which as I’ve mentioned before, is why I don’t have a CPAP machine. I have a mouth device that forces my lower jaw forward, which prevents my tongue from blocking the airwaves at night (lower jaw/tongue mechanics). The one I have is adjustable (only need to prevent blocking a little), and sturdy (apparently I also grind my teeth, badly, when stressed). Benefit, no power required. Clean using any product safe for retainers and dentures, or non-whitening tooth paste. $1900 (less cash discount, because I sent it into the insurance), $1200 insurance “refund”, through my dentist. Sleep study people likely to send you to orthodontists. The orthodontist, our son went to for braces, is where I got my first one. It kept breaking (see grind teeth, which I did not know I was doing). Current one, have now had almost 3x as long, not breaking. Talk to your dentist. That is if you look into this.

      Liked by 1 person

    3. I had to deal with that when my blood pressure was bad enough to require medication. Got it under control after serious lifestyle changes but I got pulled off of it when the cough got bad enough. I don’t miss it!

      Like

    4. I was on lisinopril for over 15 years. Had the dry cough and didn’t know it was a side effect. Switched my blood pressure medicine and the cough went away in two days.

      Also, lisinopril can raise your potassium levels. That was why I changed.

      On the other hand, lisinopril is known to reduce the risk of ventricle enlargement. Mine is now enlarged. Going through the evaluation process for that.

      Father Time is still undefeated!

      Like

    5. I was on lisinopril for over 15 years. Had the dry cough and didn’t know it was a side effect. Switched my blood pressure medicine and the cough went away in two days.

      Also, lisinopril can raise your potassium levels. That was why I changed.

      On the other hand, lisinopril is known to reduce the risk of ventricle enlargement. Mine is now enlarged. Going through the evaluation process for that.

      Father Time is still undefeated!

      Like

    6. My wife and a number of friends and extended family were taken off their long-standing (and effective) BP meds and switched to lisinopril at about the same time a few years ago. About half then had to switch to something else because of the coughing.
      It had to be insurance companies pushing lisinopril since there were no doctors they had in common.

      Like

  14. Wait, you’re not hypertensive? (and does one mis-diagnose that?) Got me beat; I might not be if I weren’t working two jobs.

    I’ve been told I need a sleep study.

    Like

      1. LOL! Yeah; that would do it. My physician’s assistant did mention the need for me to check mine more often than when I’m at the doctor’s.

        Like

          1. 130 BP for me would be high. But then mine currently runs high it is at 110/60. When we got our life insurance when son was a newborn the nurse who came by the house to take statistics and BP, did mine 3x’s. Same reading each time – 90/50, 90/60. No, I do not have a condition to cause that. But it is something to bring up if conditions warrant a high BP and mine isn’t high, for anyone else.

            Like

  15. Guess I don’t get out enough. I had no idea what the sleep study/ hoses, etc., was about until reading some of the comments.

    I’ve enjoyed traveling over the years, especially around the ring of fire, the Pacific Rim, but haven’t much for the last decade. The increasing hoops and loops and on your head poops of airport theater (Faux security.), “efficiency” (Input your ticket code at Kiosk A, proceed with boring pass to line C, go back to kiosk A, you forgot to check box D…) leaves me far less than pleased.

    & If wishes were fishes.. Now if the Bering Land Bridge was still travelable, from here in Alaska I could drive west around the Rim, grab the ferry in Busan, Korea across the Sea Of Japan to Fukuoka and visit my buddies in Urawa, Osaka and Matsuyama.

    If our neighbor to the East, the People’s Republic of Canada, wasn’t the socialist hell hole I’ve now no wish to even pass through, I’d consider a fun run in my Jeep to Tierra del Fuego (Hey, if I only got as far as Playa Mismaloya, Mexico {Great memories of my last visit, 40 some years ago, there.} I’d be satisfied.).

    Oh well, the 498 mile drive from here, North Pole, AK to Seward is still fun, even if rather iffy in the winter.

    Liked by 1 person

  16. Have they concluded that weight gain is a symptom of Sleep Apnea, not the cause? If your biological engine is not running correctly it can’t burn fats and other foods properly.

    Like

        1. There are four ways I know to get energy for your body – eating, sleeping, exercising, and drugs. With sleep apnea you obviously aren’t sleeping, you’re too tired to exercise, and caffeine only does so much. That leaves eating to get energy. Remember you aren’t exercising so you gain weight. The CPAP machine saved my life.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. 100% the mouth piece has saved my life. Probably should have been on it at minimum a decade before. Also need help losing weight. Cutting calories and exercising is not enough. What I do lose, I swear I hear every ounce screaming “Noooooo, You Need Me” as it goes away.

            Like

      2. That’s why poultry farmers leave the lights on in the chicken houses (and turkey houses too) twenty-two hours a day—so they’ll eat more. I’m not sure about swine, but I’m sure it applies to me.

        Liked by 1 person

  17. It’s a sign of the times that “I’ve been smoking Canada” makes perfect sense and my first thought was “Is that better or worse than cannabis?” One irritates eyes, throat, and lungs, and causes a strange longing for poutin. The other does all that, and causes the munchies.

    Liked by 1 person

  19. We are smoking not only Canada (BC and north) but Idaho panhandle, Oregon both east and west of the Willamette Valley (Cascades and Coast), and California. Stupid smoke pools in the southern part of the Willamette Valley right over Eugene/Springfield and Cottage Grove. Wind has it cleared out, for now. Thank you early fall weather!

    Like

  21. I just ordered and received a ResMed AirFit F30 mask system (head harness, rubber mask cushion, plastic frame, connector/hose end thingie.) The head harness has better Velco straps than the previous one, and they moved the straps around from last year’s version, so I notice that the back of the head strap actually rides a bit higher on the skull, and puts less pressure on the muscles from the neck (that often gave me a headache that lasted all day.)

    Call me foolish, but I nursed the old one for over a year. And they recommend replacements about every 3 to 6 months. Had to order new since the old cushion delaminated the soft rubber from the hard plastic, completely blowing the seal. (By the way, cyanoacrylic glue eats the “rubber” so that’s probably a soft plastic, and not actually rubber.)

    It was possible to get a night’s sleep without the obstructive apnea, but it required sleeping at a 45-degree angle, not the most comfortable of positions.

    Liked by 1 person

      1. I’m cheap. I use a standard plastic sports mouthguard to prevent my teeth from grinding. Easy to replace, and I get almost a year out of it as long as I brush it first thing each morning.

        Does require making my nightly kisses before putting it in and putting my headgear on though. Not exactly enabling of spontaneous affection, eh?

        Like

        1. Does require making my nightly kisses before putting it in and putting my headgear on though. Not exactly enabling of spontaneous affection, eh?
          ……………….

          Same. Brush teeth, rinse and put device in hot water (softens it a tad), then I can put it in. In the morning I use denture tabs to clean it. Also have used not whitening toothpaste to brush it. Must also use it if I nap laying down, which means same process as at night. Semi setting up on a lounge chair I’ve woken up coughing (probably from not breathing), not the smartest thing I should do.. Have also been woken up by the dog, again probably not breathing (not one of her formal tasks because I have the device), but she did this just after diagnosis before first one gotten, and again the days I was without because it was broken, and being replaced.

          Like

      2. Original kind I had that I broke 4x’s, mostly the metal parts, but those broke every 6 months. First time the plastic (?) material broke. That and the first arm were replaced for free. 2nd time arm broke, $100. 4th break wanted $500. Nope.

        https://external-content.duckduckgo.com/iu/?u=http%3A%2F%2Fww1.prweb.com%2Fprfiles%2F2013%2F06%2F29%2F11903502%2Fsleepherbst.png&f=1&nofb=1&ipt=6576e77d509d03fa17bdddf6894501220a61ca7016788b98a5c09e6690f8d35b&ipo=images

        Like

    1. Sounds like a skit of Mister Robinson’s Neigborhood.

      “Kids, you shouldn’t play with chemicals you don’t understand. Can you say ‘Richard Pryor’?”

      “Walk into mama’s room and say ‘bitch’. I’ll wait. … Did she hit you? Good! You said it right!”

      Gotta study the classics.

      Liked by 2 people

    2. I had been sitting here nursing my third gin & tonic after an unusually bad day. When the sergeant came rushing in from the rain. We all knew he was no doubt looking for somebody. Just like all the rest of the cops in here I hoped it wasn’t me he was looking for. The place was full of failed everything, failed mothers, failed fathers, failed cops. Plus a few writers getting a glimpse of the real world for whatever story they were writing. I had been assured by several that they needed the flavor of the place, ambience they had called it. Either that or their muse just liked to get drunk. I could understand that drunken muse part, my own muse seemed to enjoy that as well. I even had one try and talk me into writing stories about the cases I handled. Ya, not going to happen, not if I wanted to stay alive. My nickname with the brass around the department was Lt. Discrete. The others just called me Lt. Asshole. My real name was Lt. Simon Archer, Star City Police, Criminal Investigations.

      Like

  23. “I’ve been smoking Canada.”

    I’ve spent most of my life in fire season locales. Plot twist—my asthmatic husband mentioned that certain things I was describing sounded very like asthma to him, so that’s now on my list to get checked out. (There’s no family history of asthma, but since so many of my ancestry line smoked themselves to death, it’s possible it’s there and was just missed. Will also want to rule anything worse out, see fire seasons and potential lung damage.)

    Liked by 1 person

  24. I inquired as to commercial airline “cabin altitude”, as some prior injuries left me rather sensitive to suden pressure changes and to altitude.

    Short flights maintain relative inside altitude of 2-3 thousand feet. Long flights, especially on older aircraft, can raise that to 8-9 thousand feet. That tends to reactivate some old ouchies. One more reason I prefer to drive when on travel.

    Mom used an oxygen concentrator, especially when sleeping. This is a way to reduce relative altitude by increasing partial-pressure of Oxygen.

    A recent sleep aid I discovered is slowly dimming low intensity lights. These are often sold for infants and children as night lights. I set mine to red and slow fade, and it gives a “dying fire” glow for an hour. My brain shuts down much more quickly. I was surprised it worked.

    I discovered the dimmer when I was gifted a “Wand Company” type 1 phaser and rock. Zap the rock for a bit and it lights up red. Wait and it fades. It has an “atmosphere” set of settings that includes a very slow dim. Also funky spectrum roll through and others. The ~$25 nursery light was better but lacks the neato toy.

    Like

  25. I went down to San Jose for a gaming convention on Labor Day weekend and I just had this massive wave of both nostalgia and an absolute desire never to return.

    The nostalgia-I knew all of these places I had been to. I have stories. I remember shopping at places, having lunch when I was a starving student at SJSU off-campus when I “had money” and I could tell you things. And I didn’t have to hunt to find things that I wanted, including a trip to my favorite Japanese grocery store.

    The absolute desire never to return-I was surrounded by utter c(YAY!)ts. When you’re doing 75 on 880 and a guy with a penis-extension sports car blows by you in packed traffic, doing at least 90+…there’s a problem. The crowd that was at the gaming convention made me feel out of place because they were either serious hobbyists or overgrown man-children and since I wasn’t in the first I was scared that I was in the second.

    (There was also an astonishing amount of attractive women there. Playing, even. Weird…)

    Serious security issues as well. Signs everywhere to not leave anything visible in your car. When I parked, there were people of the chemical set hanging out on both floors of the parking garage. LOTS of security accessories in stores that didn’t have it before.

    Also, because I had to change medical plans when I lost my job, I order all of my supplies via Amazon. And even they are billing the original hardware for my CPAP hard, and the generics are almost as expensive. I’m hoping that my weight loss plan will help with my sleep, even if I still need my CPAP.

    Liked by 1 person

  26. That’s right, we have been getting that crap down here. I wonder if that hasn’t been aggravating the early morning eye watering, sporadic sneezing, and fatigue on my end, especially since I spend a fair bit of time walking outside on the job. Still not sure about the light colored webpages and sunlight being a bit much for my eyes sometimes, though! Unless one of the ladies at my usual haunts really is a vampire… >_>

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Dry eye can make your eyes more sensitive to light. You can try artificial tears, or you can get the kind with lipids also. (They work nicely, but you do have to throw them away after a month or so after first opened for use.)

      You can also do hot compresses, because sometimes the little Meibomian glands get clogged up with goo. Heat melts the goo, and then you get rid of the dry eye.

      If it doesn’t work, at least you relaxed your eyes for a while!

      Like

      1. All of those sound like good ideas and I do typically use a heating pad for bad sinus headaches anyway. We’ll see what I can find next time I’m out.

        Like

      2. Another reason for the goo can be a CPAP. Basically, your tear ducts connect to your nose, and aren’t meant to keep stuff from being forced the other way, as you notice when you blow your nose or sneeze.

        Think of a CPAP as a continuous sneeze. You’re more susceptible to pinkeye too. There was a story in the last 60 days where a brand of eyedrop antibiotic prescribed for people with CPAP had to be recalled because it got contaminated with something nasty.

        Like

    2. We started getting it again yesterday. With the cold front due overnight, I suspect my allergies to “something in the north” plus smoke will have me sneezing and squinting this weekend.

      Liked by 1 person

      1. So it’s going that far south, huh? Sheesh. I really do need to pay more attention to this mess, especially when I’m feeling off. A friend a little ways north of here was complaining about the smoke, too, so it really is all over our part of the country. Thanks a pant load, Castreau!

        Liked by 1 person

        1. I hope things improve by next month. We’re planning a camping trip across the Southwest, and I really don’t want to have to spend a couple weeks breathing Canada. It’s been bad enough off and on here in Ohio for the past few months.

          Liked by 1 person

  28. Dear Hostess if they will set you up definitely do a sleep study in hospital. It is a royal pain due to the sensors EEG, EKG, Temp sensor up the damn nose, bp cuff (that goes off every 30 minutes or so) sensor on leg, and oxygenation sensor on the finger. However there are SEVERAL possible issues that may cause many of the same symptoms as sleep apnea. If it’s one of the other issues you may be able to dump the CPAP (though if the CPAP helps those may side issues), if it is sleep apnea it will show up early in the study and should let them fiddle with the pressure and get a good pressure level for you. Because the home ones are generally minus the EEG those miss some of the other issues, the home one seems more of a screening test as it is considerably cheaper than an evening in patient test.
    For other folks unfamiliar this is a SLOW killer. Undiagnosed and untreated it causes immense strain on the heart because blood oxygenation drops very low so heart rate goes up as does BP as the body fights to get enough oxygen to keep the brain OK. In addition because you never get deep sleep stages your sleep is NOT restful. You may “sleep” 10 hours and wake up and be exhausted. Your body will tend to micro sleep making driving or operating machinery dangerous and mental tasks seem almost impossible. I look back at my mom who almost certainly had it (loud snoring and throat closing causing the classic popping sound of an apnea) died at 62 from cardiac arrest, Combined with poor type 2 diabetes control and not liking her BP meds she had essentially been at very low cardiac function for years. I’ve had a CPAP for 20+ years and have been (relatively) good with my other health issues. At my age my Mom had been dead 6 months. Even though I’m slowing I’m probably better off health wise than of my parents was in their late 40’s.

    Like

    1. I HAVE had a study, five years ago. Mouth conformation sleep apnea (this is important, because Dan has the same. So when our kids hit it early 20s we were ready. Fact one of them was stubborn enough to gain 100lbs before he believed us is something else. His fiance is taking care of that. It’s also important, because you have to keep the CPAP as you lose weight. Dan didn’t. Yeah.)

      Liked by 1 person

      1. That is mine (primarily) also. Daughters got braces that fixed other things and helped partially correct the issue. They can live with just mouthguard type things to shape the palate and fix breathing now. Me it is to late for that. Their orthodontist looked at my mouth and realized I was the likely source of their issues. Unfortunately his thought (when I was 40 something nearly twenty years ago) was he could try to fix it but it would take 18 months to 2 years to fix, would be hellaciously painful and he wasn’t even sure it fix the issue and that it wouldn’t make other issues (TMJ, weird bite) worse. Sadly when I was a kid orthodontics other than severe cases were generally for cosmetic purposes and weren’t nobody going to be using me as a model ;-) . So my parents opted NOT to do that and rather spent their hard earned money sending my to a private school which got me out of severe mental and physical bullying. That change let me grow up to be a less maladjusted human and let me survive through my high school years which given my mental state at the end of 8th grade I might not have. I’ll take the path I got and put up with my CPAP.

        Liked by 1 person

        1. Same. My device pulls my lower jaw forward at night. I don’t have much of an overbite, but it doesn’t take much. Son had braces, 3x’s. Early braces to close the permanent top front teeth gap to prevent developing a permanent hiss lisp in his speech, internal head gear (guarantied he’d wear it 24/7 for 6 to 12 months to encourage developing lower jaw to grow to match upper portion), and then regular teeth straightening braces. Wasn’t cheap. Not sure which side he got steps 2 or 3 causes from. But the middle step? Apparently I am guilty of that. Being overweight doesn’t help, but losing that weight also won’t solve it. The only way to solve it without a device or CPAP is to break my jaw and realign it; that was not recommended.

          FYI, my dad and maternal grandfather likely had the same (never treated in any form) problem, individually they could raise a roof when snoring, together they could blow out the walls. Once I was out of the house a few years I couldn’t sleep at home anymore (hubby never could). It was so bad that when we’d have to stay in hotels (weddings, etc.) when folks and grandparents also had rooms, we managed to make deliberately mistake getting rooms far, far, away in the hotel from either. At youngest sister’s wedding, middle sister and BIL forgot to do that (their room was between parents and grandparents, oops). It has been 35 years and BIL still grouses about it.

          Liked by 1 person

          1. My jaw misalignment was “mild” enough that a year of retainers and then orthodontic crowns, and a bite-guard that locks my lower jaw forward, were enough to deal with it. After having braces (X2) and retainers (X5) as a child and younger adult. [In the orthodontist’s defense, they didn’t have the tools and knowledge then that they do now, and the jaw misalignment can look a LOT like off-kilter teeth.]

            Like

            1. In the orthodontist’s defense, they didn’t have the tools and knowledge then that they do now, and the jaw misalignment can look a LOT like off-kilter teeth.
              ………………

              As a child to preteens, my overlap of my front teeth were diagnosed as being caused by sucking my thumb, infant to 6 or 7. Wrong. Not that kind of misalignment (if that is even actually possible). So, yes, understood.

              bite-guard that locks my lower jaw forward
              ……………..

              Better description than “mandibular” device. I’d note “custom” to it. (Gagging reflexes just thinking about the process to get it made. Willing to wait another 10 to 20 years, thank you.) My bite guard has the ability to slide side to side, without coming out of the lock. That accommodates the teeth grinding, protecting the bite guard device and my teeth, if not my jaw from the clinching, a side affect of the grinding. I can also tell if I haven’t been grinding because then I drool (just can’t win).

              Like

    2. Oh, my machine is self adjusting. I’m on the second machine. There was something “off” with the other one, but we still don’t know what. I should take it apart and figure it out.
      Right now, arranging a new sleep study is a matter of coordinating with our doctor. Right now, we’re pursuing a couple other things.

      Like

      1. Indeed as noted the heart works extremely hard during the apnea incidents to get blood (and oxygen) to the brain. Blood pressure can rise to levels that are extremely dangerous (increasing likelihood of a variety of issues) and of course the heart rate is VERY high and can wander into arrythmia. Aside from clots and other immediate issues it means the heart is working overtime when it is supposed to be resting at low pulse rates essentially putting wear on it far past what might normally be expected.

        Liked by 1 person

Comments are closed.